The council meeting
was called to order by Mayor Rozier with Councilman Myrick giving the
invocation. Councilmembers Griffin, Grizzard, Kerby, Myrick,
Otto, Attorney Raymond Dickey, City Administrator Charles Akridge and City
Clerk Diane Proudfoot were present.Councilwoman Key was out of town.

Mayor Rozier
welcomed everyone to the meeting and took a moment to address a letter in which
someone wrote a note stating “a vote will take place at the City Council
meeting to change the zoning along Walnut Street that could bring 128 low
income rental apartments”, attached it over an official city letter, copied and
was distributing it throughout the city.Mayor Rozier informed citizens that a request was submitted from a
property owner requesting to change the zoning of their property but there has
not been any plans submitted for any type development.Mayor Rozier also expressed that any correspondence
being sent out by the City would be official, type written and delivered
through the US Postal Service.

Councilman Myrick
made a motion to approve the draft copy of the minutes of the April 7th
council meeting.Councilman Grizzard seconded
the motion and it passed without opposition.Councilman Myrick made a motion to approve the agenda of the April 21,
2016 meeting with the removal of items #1 and #2 and add an Executive Session
to discuss attorney/client privilege. Attorney Dickey explained that items #1 &
#2 involved a rezoning request submitted by Ike LaRoche and Planning Commission
held a public hearing at their meeting on April 12th and tabled the
issue thus this item was improperly before city council at this time; before
Council can take action Planning Commission will either meet again and take
action or at the end of 30 days the matter will be deemed approved by the
Planning Commission but City Council will make the official decision on the
request.This item will be on the
Planning Commission agenda for the May 10th meeting and on the
Council agenda for the May 19th meeting. The process tonight will be for the Public
Hearing but no action will be taken. After
that clarification, Councilman Otto seconded the motion and it passed without
opposition.

Mayor Rozier
turned the floor over to Judge Tom Edenfield who introduced Judge Morse who has
been in public office in Chatham County for over 25 years, serving as Assistant
DA, State Court Judge and for over 21 years has been Superior Court Judge in
Chatham County; he is the first African American to graduate from Country Day, graduated
from Mercer University, has been an outstanding Superior Court Judge, is a man
of high integrity and is also a Minister.Judge Morse thanked Mayor, Council and citizens for allowing him to
introduce himself and stated he has been in Chatham County all of his life and
has been in public service for 25 years serving on the bench and 9 years serving
as Assistant District Attorney.Judge
Morse states he is seeking the Superior Court Judge seat and would continue his
work with passion, great integrity, be deliberate without prejudgment and would
appreciate it if you would vote for Johnny Morse, Jr. for Superior Court Judge on
May 24th.

Mayor Rozier
introduced Kay Ford, with Bank South who introduced Tammie Mosley who is
seeking election for Clerk of Superior Court.Ms. Mosley thanked Mayor and Council for allowing her to introduce
herself stating that she has been an Attorney for 22 years and has served as
Attorney to the Superior Court Judiciary for 13 years.Ms. Mosley stated that the current Clerk of
Superior Court, Dan Massey is retiring and she would greatly appreciate your
vote on May 24th.

ADMINISTRATIVE AND COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Councilwoman Griffin stated
that baseball, softball and soccer are well underway and the circus came in
town Wednesday and are finishing up tonight.

Councilman Grizzard reminded
everyone that the senior luncheon will be held on May 10th at noon
at the Community Building.

PUBLIC HEARING – Rezoning request submitted by Ike
LaRoche for property located at 211 Walnut Street and to the south of Walnut
Street.

Mayor Rozier opened
the public hearing to receive citizen input regarding a request submitted by
Ike LaRoche requesting to rezoning his two properties from R-1 (One Family
Residential) to R-3 (Multi-Unit Residential).City Administrator Akridge stated that Mr. LaRoche was unable to
attend.

The follow comments were received:

Michael Buss - 203 Cherry
Street stated the area is beautiful and he would not like to see this area
change.

Craig Arledge - 107 W. Main
Street stated he attended and spoke at the Planning Commission and voiced his concern
that everything he has spent his life time investing in would be devalued by
allowing this type zoning to take place; he has a concern regarding the traffic
issues and safety of the children that would be a result of multi-unit residential.Councilwoman Griffin interjected that the
letter that was being distributed was a falsified letter and she hopes he does
not base his opinion on that letter in which Mr. Arledge stated he has not seen
the letter and is strictly concerned about the value of his lifetime
investments and safety.

Marie Maddox - 9 Walnut
Street who has lived here for over 35 years and wishes to continue living here
– her concern is that traffic would be greatly increased with any type of
multi-family development and secondly this area has always been single family and
doesn’t feel that multi-family would be a good choice; she also stated that
there is going to be enough of a change when the Jimmy DeLoach extension goes
through.

Joy Larrick – owner of
property at 309 Walnut Street questioned if Mr. Kerby should be participating
in the discussion and was advised by Attorney Dickey that this was a public
hearing only and council is not taking any action; she stated she is concerned
about how citizens are notified and Attorney Dickey advised her that law and
city ordinance requires that a notice be published in the legal organ of the
city and that adjoining property owners be notified; she also questioned the 30
day issue, when City Council will make a decision on this issue and how will
citizens know.Ms. Larrick was advised
that it would be on the May 19th Council agenda and the May 10th
Planning Commission agenda and the agenda will be posted at city hall.

Councilman Kerby stated that he
wished to address some of the untrue statements and advised that he has no
interest in pursuing Section 8 housing developments nor does he have an interest
in purchasing any more property.

Dennis Burgess – 5 W. Cregor
Street owner of two lots adjoining Mr. LaRoche’s
property stated his concerns are with where the entrance would be and is
concerned that should the property be rezoned to R-3 there could potentially be
64 housing units using the dirt road that he lives on and he is frustrated and
apprehensive about the potential development and the affect it could have on this
area.

There being no
further comments Mayor Rozier closed the public hearing.

NEW BUSINESS:

1.Consider
a preliminary site plan for Continue Care Retirement Community submitted by
Coleman Company on behalf of Herb Black.City
Administrator Akridge stated that Planning Commission recommends approval of
the site plan. Greg Coleman of Coleman
Company was available for any questions.Councilman Grizzard made a motion to approve the site plan as
recommended by Planning Commission with the addition to note #1 that water and
sewer shall be serviced in accordance with the Water/Sewer Agreement and #2
should meet the requirements of the Sign Ordinance.Mr. Coleman acknowledged that this would be
added.Councilman Myrick seconded the
motion and it passed without opposition.

Councilman Myrick
made a motion to adjourn into Executive Session to discuss attorney/client
privilege.Councilman Grizzard seconded
the motion and it passed without opposition.

At the
conclusion of the executive session, Councilman Myrick made a motion to return
to the general session and execute the affidavit as required by the Open
Meetings Law. Councilman Otto seconded the motion and it passed without
opposition.

The accounts payables were presented
with Councilman Myrick making a motion to pay the bills, Councilman Kerby seconded
the motion and it passed without opposition.

There being no further business,
Councilman Myrick made a motion to adjourn at 8:17pm.Councilman Otto seconded the motion and it
passed without opposition.

Respectfully submitted,

Diane Proudfoot, City Clerk

Note:Section
§ 50-14-1 of the Official Code of the State of Georgia Annotated requires that
the minutes shall, as a minimum, include a description of each motion or other
proposal made, and a record of all votes.These minutes meet the minimum requirements.However, in an attempt to provide as much
information as possible to the citizens, the recording clerk has included
additional background data and discussion on the subjects presented to
council.The statements of individuals
are not verbatim and may be summary in nature.